Memorandum on Bratcher v. Akron Board of Realtors Appeals Court Hears Antitrust Law used by LDF Lawyers Against Housing Jim Crow
Press Release
April 17, 1967

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Press Releases, Volume 4. Memorandum on Bratcher v. Akron Board of Realtors Appeals Court Hears Antitrust Law used by LDF Lawyers Against Housing Jim Crow, 1967. b7085cc4-b792-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/ddc1c0da-7ebd-44bc-a62b-a2dc40b67bac/memorandum-on-bratcher-v-akron-board-of-realtors-appeals-court-hears-antitrust-law-used-by-ldf-lawyers-against-housing-jim-crow. Accessed April 27, 2025.
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President Hon. Francis E. Rivers PRESS RELEASE Director-Counsel egal efense und Teck Grsceners Sek Ak Director, Publie Relations NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND, INC. Jess He Vere, Inc 10 Columbus Circle, New York, N.Y. 10019 * JUdson 6-8397 FOR RELEASE NIGHT NUMBER 212-749-8487 “ers MONDAY pe April 17, 1967 MEMORANDUM TO: OHIO REPORTERS FROM: Jesse DeVore, Director of Public Information ne APPEALS CCURT HEARS ANTITRUST LAW USED BY ‘RIGHTS LAWYERS IN FIGHT AGAINST HOUSING JIM CROW CASE TITLE: Bratcher v. Akron Board of Realtors DATE OF ARGUMENT: April 17, 1967 QUESTION PRESENTED: Does a combination and conspiracy not to sell or rent to Negroes in all white areas sufficiently restrain the interstate commerce of people, con- struction materials, and mortgages and insurance transactions so as to be prohibited by the Sherman Antitrust Act? NATIONAL NEWS The national fair housing bill that was defeated ANGLE: in Congress in 1966 and the current proposed legislation were and are based on the commerce clause on the ground that the sale and rental of housing is inherently an interstate event invol- ving the movement of people, construction material, mortgages, and insurance across state lines. Although Senator Everett Dirksen opposed last year's bill as being unconstitutional, the Anti- trust Division of the Justice Department has filsd an amicus curiae brief in support of the LDF posi- tion, This case, if successful, will effectively dispose of any constitutional pretext as a ground for opposing federal fair housing legislation. CINCINNATI ---Discriminatory practices of the 1800-member Akron Area Board of Realtors were attacked today in the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of See by attorneys of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, ine. ULDE)). In the first suit of its kind to reach the appeals court level, LDF lawyers asked that the Board be “permanently enjoined and restrained because its members are operating in violation of Section 1 cf the Sherman Antitrust Act and the Clayton Antitrust Act. LDF Director-Counsel Jack Greenberg asserts that the realtors "have engaged in an unlawful combination and conspiracy in restraint of interstate trade and commerce." This "combination and conspiracy has continuously had as its pur- pose and objective the prevention of Negro persons from owning real property in parts of Akron occupied solely or primarily by white persons," he asserts. To thestend, the Realtors are charged with: fusing. their services to Negroes desirous of living in areas the Realtors have delineated as "white" neighborhoods; * Quoting prices to Negroes far greater than those quoted to prospective white purchasers or renters of the same property; ( more) Ss April 17, 1967 F he ¥ Declining to list property where the owner requests an "open! mate icing; * Refusing to show property to Negroes after purporting to accept it on an "open" basis; * Misrepresenting to Negroes the reasons for failure to consum- mate a sale; Excluding Negro real estate brokers from the advantages and opportunities associated with membership in the Akron Area Board of Realtors. Charged with conspiring to discriminate are 28 Akron real estate firms as well as the Akron Area Board itself, an organization which does not list a single Negro among its 1800-odd members. LDF attorneys charge that Negroes are discriminated when: * Negro brokers have been denied benefits of membership on the Akron Area Board, thereby restraining the sale and rental of real property by Negroes; * Negro persons have been discouraged from moving to the Akron area because they have been unable to buy or rent. Among the plaintiffs on whose behalf the LDF filed the suit were a Negro Ph.D., who was denied housing listed "for sale or rent," and a white professor from a lily-white suburb who failed in his attempt to have his house listed with brokers on a non-discriminatory basis. The LDF case seeks to demonstrate that the real estate business is in large measure interstate commerce and thus subject to the federal antitrust laws. Mr. Greenberg led a group of lawyers including James M, Nabrit IT, Leroy D., Clark, Sheila Rush Jones, and Henry M. Aronson of the LDF staff; Jay Topkis of New York; Jack Day of Cleveland; and Norman Purnell of Akron, 2305